


Paper Aeroplane

by Drhair76



Series: And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars [7]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Background Steve Harrington, Bisexual Mike Wheeler, Gay Will Byers, Gen, M/M, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Protective Dustin Henderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24058651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drhair76/pseuds/Drhair76
Summary: "A note from Mike?" Dustin asks, a curious but kind look on his face.Will nods sheepishly and folds the note and tucks it back into his locker. "Yeah." He turns back, pulling his coat on. He feels leauges better.or, Will and Mike send each other paper airplane notes
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Dustin Henderson & Lucas Sinclair & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Series: And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1448032
Comments: 11
Kudos: 139





	Paper Aeroplane

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be a part of 20 for 20 (a drabble challenge where I try to write 20 fics in 20 days) but it sort of got away from me 😳

_elementary_

A tiny, crudely made paper airplane gently touches down at Will's feet. He looks up from his book, squinting around at the playground for whoever could've thrown it. 

It's not as if he has a ton of friends or anything, so his options were pretty limited. 

He picks it up and turns it over in his hand. There's scraggly hand writing on it: _open me._

Will does, carefully. It's taken whoever did this some time to fold this plane so he assumes that it isn't a bully. Who would go to such trouble just to make fun of another person? 

Will takes a breath when he realizes that he's right. 

_Do you want to come play on the swings with me?_

Will looks up and over to the swings and the only person there is Mike Wheeler, halfheartedly swinging all alone. He catches Mike's eyes and Mike ducks his head back down, as if he was nervous. 

Will looks back down at the note, thinks for a moment and then folds it up carefully and shoves it in his pocket. He hurries over to the swings, excited to make a new friend. 

...

_middle_

Mike is furiously erasing a right triangle when a paper airplane soars over and hits his arm. He blinks and immediately looks for Will, who's watching the board and the teacher's turned back carefully. 

Mike grins and snatches it up. It's folded perfected and colored green and orange to look kind of like a real plane. He unfolds it carefully and his smile widens when he reads the note. 

_Mr. Carter is so annoying, I think Lucas fell asleep. Since we're not learning anything now, do you want to come over today after school? My mom said it's okay._

Mike looks up and Will's watching him, looking a little nervous. It _is_ the first time he's invited Mike over- Mike figured he'd be nervous too. 

He nods excitedly and a big smile splits over Will's face. 

...

Dustin throws an arm around his shoulders, talking quick and practically pulling Will down the hallway. 

"Forget him!" He ranted, his voice loud and angry. "He's only making fun of us because he has no life and he's mad that just one of us is smarter than fifty of him put together." 

Will nods dutifully, holding back tears. He doesn't _want_ Troy to get to him. He wishes he could be more like Lucas and just glare threateningly whenever Troy opens him dumb mouth. 

"We're going to have a _great_ recess and _nothing_ Troy Walsh says will stop us!" Dustin huffed. 

They stopped at Will's locker so he could grab his coat. When he did, a paper airplane fell out. It was small and Will could tell it was folded with care. All the lines were precise and Mike didn't fold over them twice. 

Despite himself, Will smiled. He opened it up. 

_Hey, I heard about Stupid Troy Walsh. Forget him, he's a total mouth breather who has nothing better to do than to make fun of people who are smarter and way cooler than him. I hope you don't listen to him because you're one of my best friends and I say you're awesome and I'm pretty sure my opinion means way more than stupid Troy Walsh._

"A note from Mike?" Dustin asks, a curious but kind look on his face. 

Will nods sheepishly and folds the note and tucks it back into his locker. "Yeah." He turns back, pulling his coat on He feels leauges better. 

"Now, what was that you said about forgetting Troy Walsh?" 

Dustin grinned. 

...

"Okay are you opening presents _now?"_

Mike looked from Lucas to his mom to Will's small grin. He looks back at his mom, who gives a slight nod. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'll open presents." He says like he's resigned but really, he's only barely keeping himself from bouncing on his toes. 

Dustin gets him the multiplayer Spiderman Atari game and Lucas gets him a pair of shoes that _somehow_ have a secret opening in them. Will's present is small, it's actually just a single card so Mike opens it delicately. 

_Happy Birthday Mike! I know how much you hate all the cheesy stuff that people put into birthday cards, so because of that, I won't do it. But I do want to say that I really, really appreciate you and I'm so glad to have you as my friend. Anyway, now that we got all of that out of the way, enjoy your gift. Try not to spend it all in one place._

Taped to the bottom of the page was a crisp, clean, fifty dollar bill. Mike gawked at it for a solid second- he knew how much Will's mom worked to keep themselves afloat. This was practically a fortune that they had given him. 

"I know it's kind of a lazy gift," Will said nervously, shifting a bit. "But I figured it was useful-" 

Mike pulled him into a hug to cut him off. 

Will was right, Mike hated the sappy stuff- but right now, he was a little curious as to what Will would've said about him. He squeezed Will tighter instead of asking and hoped Will could feel how grateful Mike was. 

He pulled back to see Dustin and Lucas ogling at the card. 

"Dude!" Dustin crowed. "If I ask you for quarters now, you better not say that you're short!" 

...

Coming back home after everything was like putting on a sweater that didn't fit anymore. 

The sweater was soft and yeah, it reminded Will of nice times and safety but it didn't _fit_ anymore. Wearing it was just as weird as looking at his kitchen cabinets or his bathroom tiles after being in the Upside Down for as long as he was. 

His mom flutters around him for a _while_ and Jonathan keeps looking at him from the corner of his eye but Will is tired and he just wants to be able to go to his room and not think about those stupid Christmas lights all over his house. 

And so, while his mom is getting him some water and while Jonathan is answering the _fifth_ call from Nancy today, Will slips away to his room. 

He's almost shocked to see that not much has changed. 

Everything else is different- Nancy and Jonathan, this El girl that his friends won't stop talking about, God, even _Will_ feels different. 

He sits down heavily on his bed because he's exhausted now from going even that short of a distance. He closes his eyes and tries to soak in the one thing in his life that is almost completely the same. 

He reaches over to his pillow and jolts when he feels something hard under it. It's a brown shoebox, sort of like the type that mom would put Jonathan's pictures in. 

Will frowned and opened it carefully. 

Inside were a bunch of little yellow sticky notes all folded into little airplanes. Will's throat sort of went dry. 

"Mike sent them over." 

Will turned to see Jonathan leaning against the doorway, his eyes on the box in Will's hands. 

"He said that it was a thing you guys did- airplane notes?" He continued. Jonathan looked up to meet Will's eyes. "Will, we all went a little crazy when you were gone and I guess this was Mike's way of going crazy." 

Will looked back down at the box. There were hundreds of them. Hundreds of little tiny airplanes, hundreds of little tiny reminders that Mike had been thinking of Will. 

"I'll leave you to read them." Jonathan said, stepping back a little. "Just- just try to remember to be patient with us Will. I know we're a bit weird right now." 

Will smiled weakly. "No one's weirder than me right now." 

Jonathan huffed a laugh. "Wanna bet? There's a girl who can move things with her head- weird is kind of the new normal." 

He leaves and Will only pauses for a beat to listen to his footsteps against the creaky floor boards before unfolding the first note. 

_This might be stupid, writing a letter to you even though I'm not gonna give it to you, but it's not as stupid as everyone saying that you've run away. I know that you didn't run away because we were supposed to go to the arcade and you had that project for art you were working on. If no one else will believe us, then the party will look for you by ourselves._

_-_ mike 

_El is super cool, I think you'd like her. At least, I hope you'd like her. She's a little weird because she's a girl and all but she can move things with her mind so I guess that's alright. I think her powers are gonna help us find you. I hope they do._

\- mike

_El says that you're hiding and I just want you to know that we're gonna find you. We're gonna come get you._

\- mike

_I saw your body and-_

_I swear to God if you're dead-_

_Will, I don't know what I'd do if-_

_I just need you to be here with me-_

_El says that you're not dead. Some sort of secret power magic. It would be embarrassing how much I need that to be true except it's you and I'm never embarrassed when I'm around you because you never make me feel weird._ _Not even that one time that I wanted to show off at recess and ran so fast that I did a whole flip and blacked out for a solid minute. You didn't even laugh, you just looked worried, like I might've knocked my brain out of my head. I don't really know where I'm going with this- I guess I just really really miss you._

\- mike 

_I saw your dad at your not real funeral. Lucas had to stop be from kicking him in the balls. And Dustin had to stop Lucas from punching him in the face._

_-_ mike

_Me and Lucas aren't talking because we had a fight. Maybe I'm crazy to still trust El after all of this but she's the only chance we really have of finding you. Without her I'd still think that you were actually dead._

_-_ mike

_Literally Everything is crazy and I hardly have anytime to write this and I know it won't make any sense but El flipped a truck over our heads as we ran away from the government and dude, if you'd have been there, you'd have freaking loved it._

_-_ mike

_Okay, it's really really weird that I'm writing to you while I'm sitting here and you're laying there but we're only allowed to visit if we're quiet and we let you sleep. But I'm really glad that you're okay and that this is all over. I told your mom to save your art project because I know that you're gonna want to finish it when you feel better. Also I think your brother and my sister are like, together or something. I don't know. It's weird. Hurry up and wake up so I can ask you what you think._

_-_ mike

Will grinned, blinking back tears. He gently folding the notes back into airplanes and tucked them away into the box. 

Some things never change. 

...

_High_

_Dude, you should come over later, I'm making Steve take us to the game store to buy us things we don't need_. 

\- mike 

_Can we get ice cream too?_

-Will

_I'll bully him into getting it for us._

-mike

...

_Stop taking my fries at lunch._

-Will

_No._

-mike

_I hate you._

\- Will

_No you don't._

\- mike

_No I don't._

\- Will

...

_The amount of times that Dustin was able to reference his own birthday in the five mins of time we had between classes today was insane. I counted. It was thirteen._

\- Will

_He might just end up throwing himself a surprise party instead of being patient and waiting for ours. If that happens I'm taking back my gift._

\- mike

_No you wouldn't. Besides, you know how excited Dustin will be. Steve's getting three cakes. I guess he's never thrown a kid's birthday party before._

\- Will

_I'm pretty sure Steve would've gotten three cakes regardless. You know how he loves Dustin. And that's just more cake for us so no complaints here._

\- mike

...

_My brother is acting weird and I think it's because of Steve._

\- Will

_Acting weird how?_

\- mike

_Acting weird like liking someone acting weird. You know, the way someone acts when they like someone. Just weird._

_-_ Will

_And you think it's because of Steve?_

_-_ Mike

_I don't know exactly. But whenever Steve comes by he's all fumbly and blushing and whatnot. It's so weird._

_-_ Will

_Oh. Kinda like how your mom is around Hopper?_

\- mike

_What._

\- Will

_Um. Nothing? And besides, I think that's just how Steve makes people feel or something. Nancy is like that too and they broke up a while ago. And anyway, I think Steve is with Robin right?_

\- mike

_He is? I didn't know that. Robin doesn't seem like she'd date Steve._

_-_ Will 

_I don't know. They're all so weird. Are you coming to the movies later?_

\- mike

_Wouldn't miss it for the world._

\- Will

...

_El is gonna make us all join the drama club isn't she?_

\- mike 

_Probably. But I wouldn't worry, I think you'd be pretty good at acting._

\- Will

_You too. But Max is going to hate this._

\- mike 

...

_Dear Mike,_

_I know how much you hate sappy and long winded writing so I'm just going to say it quick and get it over with. After I'm done you can decide to not be my friend anymore or can hate me and I would understand. It would hurt a lot, but I'd understand. I just need to get this off my chest and honestly, you deserve to know._

_Mike, I think I'm in love with you. You were my first friend and you've always been there for me, even when I was stuck in a toxic demon dimension. I really admire your strength and loyalty and how steady you are. When I see you I get all warm and tingly, like I'd accidentally swallowed lightning. It makes it hard to think around you but in a good way, kind of how I imagine getting drunk would feel- warm and tingly and bubbly and happy._

_I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before. I didn't want to lose our friendship over something so stupid. I thought I could make it go away or that I could stop feeling this way but I guess not. So, I'm sorry. And if you don't want to talk to me anymore that's fine._

_love, Will_

_Dear Will,_

_Meet me by the swings? It'll be good, I promise._

_-_ mike

...

Will sat down timidly on the swing next to Mike. He felt like he'd drank seven cups of coffee and then ran two marathon and still had energy left over to freak out with. 

Mike had been looking ahead blankly, but when he heard Will's steps on the woodchips he looked over and smiled. Will unconsciously relaxed at that smile. 

Will couldn't help but imagine millions of horrible things that could happen when he first got that letter. Even though he _knew_ that Mike wouldn't hurt him in a million years, he would've rather not had to face him. 

"You're here." Mike said, sort of unnecessarily. He sounded kind of relieved. Like he thought that Will wasn't going to come or something. 

Will nodded. "I'm here." 

Mike nodded jerkily and looked ahead again, swinging back and forth absently. The silence stretched on for a little bit and Will couldn't help but wish Mike would get to it and tell him that they wouldn't be friends anymore. 

Just as Will was about to ask why Mike asked him to come here, he started talking. 

"Do you remember when I first sent you a paper airplane?" He asked. 

Will frowned, a bit surprised at the random question but then trying to think. "Oh. You asked me if I wanted to swing with you." 

Mike nodded, smiling softly. "Yeah, I did. It was crazy that I didn't just come to you and ask like a normal person but-" 

"What even is normal anyway." Will joked, a grin tugging at his lips. 

Mike laughed and Will wanted to bottle up the sound and keep it in his pocket. There was a comfortable pause, in which they swung back and forth together, just happy to be in each other's space. 

Will peeked over, thinking _oh wow, maybe they could still be friends despite it all,_ but then he keyed in on Mike's grip on the chain of the swing and the nervous wrinkle of his eyebrows. 

"I- um-" Mike inhaled slowly, his body tense. "This shouldn't be so hard for me." 

Will stopped swinging. He swallowed thickly. "Mike- it's okay. I- I get it." 

Mike shook his head. "I just-" He huffs a strained laugh. "I guess normal still isn't my thing." He stops swinging and digs into his pocket. 

Will watched him as he pulled out a slightly crumpled, folded paper airplane. Mike handed it over, nervously biting at his lip. 

"Here. This is for you." 

Will took it gently and with only one more comfirming glance up at Mike, unfolded the note. 

_Dear Will,_

_You know what's funny? Not many people have asked me why I hate sappy and cliched writing but everyone just knows that I don't like it. The truth is, I hate that stuff because I'm jealous. I wish I could string together long winded metaphors and similes that make someone gush._

_I loved every word of your letter Will. Just the same way that I love every bit of you. I love every second of time we get to spend together, I love every joke you make (even when it's at my expense), I love every single drawing and letter that you've ever given me. Long story short, I love you._

_When you went missing it was the worst week of my life Will. Yes, even worse than that time Troy Walsh stuck seven frogs into my backpack during recess. I would rather have face a hundred Troy Walshes and be embarrassed by a million frogs than to lose you ever again._

_The idea that I would ever want to stop talking to you for any reason is insane to me because I love having you around so much. So, I write all this to say, Will Byers, I love you and I would do anything to keep you next to me on the swings for the rest of our lives._

_love, Mike_

Will looked up, a teary smile on his face. 

"So wh-what do you think?" Mike asked. He was biting at his lip and fumbling around with his hands. 

"What do I think?" Will repeated breathlessly. "I-I think I want to kiss you." 

A large grin stretched over Mike's face and Will flushed red. 

"I-i mean, I'd like to. If you wanted to. We don't have to-" He continued nervously, crinkling the letter in his hands slightly. He would've kept going but Mike hopped off his swing and pressed himself into Will's space. 

He was still grinning, his eyes shining, his cheeks pink. He gently touched the sides of Will's face and leaned in. Their lips touched and the lightning that Will felt whenever Mike was around exploded into a shock of warmth. 

He couldn't stop himself from smiling into the kiss that he'd been waiting for for as long as he can remember. 

They pulled away, their foreheads pressing together, leaning into each other's space. They were both quiet for a moment, content to just breath together. 

Mike moved, tucking his forehead into Will's shoulder. Will automatically moved to brush a hand through his hair. 

"You know," Mike said, his voice a little muffled agaisnt Will's skin, "I technically didn't finish my letter." 

"No?" Will hummed. 

Mike shook his head a bit. "I was supposed to end it with a question." 

"A question?" 

"Yeah." Mike pulled away to lock eyes with Will. "I was going to ask if you wanted to be my boyfriend." 

Will grinned, unable to help himself. "Well, if you had asked I would've said yes." 

Mike ducked his head, the jerky movement swinging them both a bit. "Yeah?" 

"Yes." 

Mike made a happy sound and moved in for another swift kiss. 

...

_We should go to the diner._

\- mike

_The party?_

\- Will

_No. Just us._

\- mike

_Are you gonna eat all my fries?_

\- Will

_Definitely_

\- mike

_At least you're honest._

\- Will 

_To make up for it, I think I'll kiss you._

\- mike

_You can have all my fries for the rest of my life if that's how you're gonna make it up to me._

\- Will

**Author's Note:**

> a song that I listened to while writing my soft boys: 
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/track/7Msq9qojB7yORuJvz49iUy?si=oFh332CzSceh5ky_Uvq59Q


End file.
